2 COMTE TO BENJAMIN KIDD CHAP. 



what formless mass of good intentions. In detail it 

 offers many valuable suggestions ; scientifically it is a 

 thing of naught. If we were foolish enough to busy 

 ourselves with it in this discussion we should be 

 embarking on unknown waters, possibly upon a shore- 

 less sea. We shall therefore take nothing to do with 

 practical sociology. It is the science or alleged science 

 of sociology that claims our attention. 



One outstanding feature of this science is its con- 

 nection with biology. In the early days of modern 

 history, mathematics stood out in sharp and isolated 

 relief as a well-finished and well-formulated science. 

 Hence an impression got abroad that other sciences 

 were to be perfected by treatment on mathematical 

 lines. Spinoza's Ethics, with its array of definitions, 

 postulates, and axioms, and with its pedantic series of 

 syllogisms, is only the most celebrated and most notable 

 among many similar attempts. In our time, biology 

 seems to have cast a like spell upon the minds of not a 

 few. It is biology nowadays which threatens to invade 

 and annex every province of thought. Already in 

 Auguste Comte, the founder or the godfather of 

 sociology, biology counts for a great deal, and sub- 

 sequent evolutionary speculation has enlarged its claims 

 to infinity. If we achieve anything in this essay, it 

 will probably be in the way of finding a definition (or a 

 cluster of definitions) for the fascinating term " evolu- 

 tion," and in forming an estimate of the value which it, 

 or which they, may possess as affording guidance to 

 human conduct. 



Let us further clear our thoughts before beginning 

 our investigation by endeavouring to "place" sociology, 

 provisionally, in relation to other kindred sciences. 



In contrast with Politics, sociology deals with the 



